After nine years of kids on bikes, synths that slap, and monsters that look like they fell out of a Cronenberg fever dream, Stranger Things is finally closing the gate. Well — kind of. Volume 2 of the final season just hit Netflix, and the mega-length finale, “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”, is locked for New Year’s Day. Two hours of emotional carnage await.
When I asked the creators how they think fans will react to the ending, Ross Duffer didn’t even hesitate. “Tears,” he told PEDESTRIAN.TV. His brother Matt added that while they can’t predict every reaction, “very few people have seen the final episode… but those who do seem to have a very emotional response to it”.
Noah Schnapp and Caleb McLaughlin echoed that same tone when P.TV caught up with them: “We’re just sad,” Noah admitted. “It’s bittersweet,” Caleb said. “Watching the finale will be like a punch.”
Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo were only half‑joking when they called the end “upsetting… but in a good way”.
So yeah — whatever happens, you’ll need emotional support snacks.
Stranger Things ending theories
Many fan theories have been doing laps around the internet. The biggest contenders?
Vecna redemption arc:
The Broadway prequel The First Shadow revealed that Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), aka Vecna was actually corrupted by the Mind Flayer — basically the Upside Down’s middle manager of evil. Some fans think he’ll switch sides and join Eleven (Millie Bobby-Brown), Will, and Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) in taking down the real mastermind. Imagine a villain glow‑up, but make it cosmic horror.
It was all a game:
Another camp believes it’s all been a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The gang wakes up at the table, dice in hand, none of it ever happened. Thankfully the Duffer brothers have denied that one. “It’s not all just a make-believe D&D game that Mike’s running in his basement,” Ross told Junkee. “That’s not a real [theory].”
The sacrifice:
From Reddit threads to TikTok manifestos, the biggest fear is that Eleven or Will won’t make it out alive. Will’s power surge in episode four mirrored Vecna’s kill tactics a little too closely for comfort, and theories suggest that closing the Upside Down might cost one or both of them their lives. As one fan wrote, “You can have stakes without death” — but let’s be honest, tension-free finales are for sitcoms, not cosmic trauma epics.
It is worth noting that the Duffer Brothers themselves have shut down every single fan theory out there. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week Matt and Ross said that, despite seeing heaps of fan speculation online, no one has nailed it yet.
“We’ve seen a lot of theories… not one of them has been right,” they said, making it very clear that the internet has not cracked the actual ending.
The Duffers’ “definitive” goodbye to Stranger Things
When asked if there’s room for future cameos or spin-offs, Matt Duffer played it coy: “It would be tricky. I can’t explain why it would be tricky.” But he confirmed they’re already working on a spin-off — one with “no Hawkins, no Upside Down, no ‘80s… but very much Stranger Things.” Still, he stresses that this finale ends the characters’ journey for good.
“At the end of the day, we think of Stranger Things as a coming‑of‑age story,” Matt told PEDESTRIAN.TV. “Once they’ve reached adulthood, you’ve reached the end of the story.”
If that’s true, Hawkins’ last stand might not just be about destroying monsters — it’s about growing up, letting go, and closing every painful loop from the Upside Down to adolescence.
In terms of saying goodbye to the kids we’ve grown up with, the Duffers are right there with you grieving the end of an era.
“I think everyone’s grieving the end of the show, for sure. Everyone is also excited about doing new things. So I’m excited to see what these actors do next. I’m excited to see them play different characters. I know what incredible actors they are and what incredible range they have,” Matt told P.TV.
So, how will Stranger Things end? No idea yet, but if you believe the Duffers, the goal was never to shock us — just to hit us square in the chest. “We really want this to be the end of the journey of these characters,” Ross said. And if his earlier one‑word warning was anything to go by, we’re not walking out of Hawkins dry‑eyed.
Lead image: Netflix / X
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